Our Solar System - Origins

The spirit of cult psychedelicists Ya Ho Wa 13 lives on in this Swedish cosmic communal collective’s fourth album of spiritual head music. In fact, the cover of their latest looks like an outtake from an old Ya Ho Wa 13 photo session, so they literally wear their influences on their, uh, sleeve! From this illustrious beginning, toss in a dollop of Japanese psych monsters Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso, U.F.O., sprinkle lightly with fellow Scandinavian space travelers Øresund Space Collective, and you’ve got a sweet dose of hippie dreams to bake your mind and free your soul from life’s unpleasant aromas.

And speaking of aromas, there’s a sweet smell of successful liftoff permeating the sidelong opening track, ‘Vulkanen’, 21 minutes of celestial harmonics and space-age loveliness, beginning with the throbbing, tribal drumroll emulating that fantastic exploding inevitable, the Big Bang you’ve heard tell about. Pulsating electronics, ominous humming, swirling malevolence…. Yup, it’s in there. Oh, and for additional acclimation, the title translates into ‘Volcano’ in English, and it perfectly describes the sound of your head exploding from the cosmic gurgling emanating from your speakers. The floating flute that flitters throughout the finale offers a sonic comedown from this amazing trip. Too bad your brain will probably be 2,000 light years from home by then. But not before the voice of God welcomes you to the cosmic hereafter. Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.

Side 2 risks wilting under the banner of “anticlimactic”, but the intentional Biblical spelling of the tribal chant, ‘Babalon Rising’ is more than a multi-layered pun. You, too, will “babble on” as your spirits rise to the occasion for more eerie effervescence, tribal drumming, and all around group hugging. Fans of wordless vocals will expire in ecstasy. The brassy accoutrements add to the fun.

‘En bit av det tredje klotet’ is a more traditional (if anything could be labeled “traditional” with this band] spacey jam – more akin to Ozric Tentacles or The Orb, while ‘Monte Verita’ wraps things up in a perfect prescription of throbbing deliciousness that warmly welcomes Spacemen 3 allusions or Krautrockers, Faust. ca. ‘It’s A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl’. What a strange trip, indeed.